Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation inaugurated ‘Young Generation Will Change Ukraine’ program.

On 2 June, the solemn opening of ‘Young Generation Will Change Ukraine’ program and the first training module for more than 170 participants and winners of competitive selection from different cities of Ukraine was conducted in Kyiv.

The program is implemented by Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation with support of Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, ‘Fondation Vidrodgenia’ Foundation and in partnership with MIM Business school and United Coordinating Hub.

Participants of the program were many young people who represent different regions of Ukraine and who are already active changes participants in their cities and communities. These are civil servants, representatives of local self-government bodies, activists from regional non-governmental organizations and social entrepreneurs who have submitted with their local development projects ideas.

All of them will continue their studies in six regional schools in Vinniytsia, Zaporizhia, Poltava, Ternopil, Cherkasy and Chernihiv during June, they will implement their own projects, the best of which will receive co-financing from the foundation. The most active participants of the program will go to study European experience of efficient management directly to one of six European countries as early as this fall. Countries like Austria, Germany, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland. An important condition of the program is the return of participants to Ukraine after the trip and the spread of acquired knowledge, experience, research results through media reports, analytical articles and directly in their professional activities.

The program was opened by Patricia Shmorgun Hawrylyshyn, who is one of the founders of Bogdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation, First Secretary of the Embassy of Austria in Kyiv Florian Kohlfurst and First Secretary of the Embassy of Norway in Kyiv Sigbjorn Litland, people’s deputies of Ukraine Aliona Shkrum and Mustafa Masi Nayyem, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Oleksandr Yarema, Vice-President of MIM-Kyiv Business school Oleksii Vynogradov and Chairman of Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation Olena Bekreniova.

Patricia Shmorgun Hawrylyshyn emphasised that it was important that ‘everyone left with the feeling that he is already changing the country’ and wished the young people belief in themselves, their capabilities and confidence to the people around.
Florian Kohlfurst and Sigbjorn Litland as representatives of two of six countries, where program participants go to experience, talked about the support of Ukrainian democratic development by Austria and Norway and emphasized the importance of understanding young people that ‘your future and the future of your country is primarily in your hands.’

Almost all the participants of the solemn opening of the program focused on the need and relevance of teamwork, cooperation, building partnerships for the effective implementation of both local and national levels projects.

‘I believe that ‘Young Generation Will Change Ukraine’ program will push and open new horizons and understanding for these young people where to go, how to build partnerships, networks, how to create new initiatives and to implement them’,  Oleksandr Yarema, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.

People’s deputy of Ukraine Aliona Shkrum gave a lot of tips from personal and professional experience. One of the main messages to the youth touched on the importance of combining the efforts of all those committed to the development of Ukraine: ‘Now the popular story is that we are all leaders, each must be the best but really there’s nothing we can do in the state, if don’t learn to build teams. Bohdan Hawrylyshyn understood this better than anyone, so he started projects with an emphasis on team work. So look for like-minded people, build teams, change the country, because nobody but us can do that’.

Addressing to youth, Mustafa Masi Nayyem said: ‘After a few years, people who are in this hall will run a country and have no idea how quickly this will happen. I would advise to unite, learn to trust each other and create teams because all other stories of individual victories are about the times that have already passed. You have to believe in yourself as in the generation that will be more successful than ours, because we have not had that experience, knowledge that young people in Ukraine have now the opportunity to acquire.’

After the official opening of the program, the participants had the opportunity to hear an inspiring statement on ‘The Art of Successful Changes’ by Violeta Moskal, founder of Global Ukraine Foundation; two lectures on social innovation in the world and in Ukraine from the partners and speakers of the program by Volodymyr Lupatsia and Oleg Saakian (United Coordinating Hub), as well as to look at own projects through the prism of innovation; listened to thoughtful and informative lecture-training from Vice-President of MIM-Kyiv Business School Oleksii Vynogradov on the development and management of local projects, while receiving the first feedback and advice on their own projects.

 

Note that program participants will implement their projects within matters such as the development of self-government and self-organization bodies; the formation of new identity and rebranding of the city/ community; the development of infrastructure for social innovation; facilitate the growth of trust and social cohesion; revitalization of social entrepreneurship and creative industries sector.

The involvement of young regional leaders in ‘Young Generation Will Change Ukraine’ program will allow them to acquire new knowledge and to organize them for practical application within their competence, to obtain financial support at the start of the project and direct access to the international European experience. The program will help to establish contacts with activists from other regions of Ukraine, to expand horizons and to build a wide network of business contacts. For today participants of ‘Young Generation Will Change Ukraine’ program of previous years established the association which consists of more than 500 young people who work in the Verkhovna Rada, ministries, city councils and administrations, manage grand-scale social projects or develope own business. Many of them will transfer their management experience to current participants on the second and third training modules, which will be held respectively in mid and at the end of June in Vinnytsia, Zaporizhia, Poltava, Ternopil, Chernihiv and Cherkasy.